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After eleven successful years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nancy discovered that she could best serve the community as a criminal defense attorney, taking a stand for individuals charged with criminal offenses.  She founded her own firm -
Kardon Law, Inc. - in July 2006 and established herself as a defense law force by taking on a high-profile child molestation case in Los Angeles County. Nancy’s defense strategies resulted in two hung juries and, ultimately, a dismissal of all charges against her client. She quickly solidified herself as one of California’s premier defense attorneys.

She serves as an Advisor for the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California, Criminal Law Section and is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and the Criminal Law Sections of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the South Bay Bar Association. She is also an attorney for the Federal Indigent Defense Panel for the Central District of California. As a member of the Juvenile Courts Task Force Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar, Nancy created the Bar's acclaimed mentorship program for emancipating foster youth.

Nancy shuns the popular sentiment that defense is “the dark side” of law practice because she is among the few in her field who practice defense law for the real reason it exists: to stand for the rights of all individuals as guaranteed by the United States Constitution and, specifically, to provide her clients with the best defense possible.

Since Nancy founded Kardon Law, Inc. all of her cases have resulted in:

• Charge reductions, sentence reductions, including no jail time and a large majority of her jury trials resulted in no conviction, with one federal case resulting in acquittal.

In August 2008, Nancy represented a client charged with drug-trafficking and firearm possession as part of a complex wiretap investigation in Federal Court. She defied all odds by proving the innocence of her client  who, if convicted, would have served a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence and possibly a life sentence. With her client in custody for two years, Nancy gathered the evidence and prepared a defense worthy of an acquittal. After a lengthy trial, Nancy’s client was acquitted, freed from custody and reunited with his wife, mother and children.

As A Federal Prosecutor

At the U.S. Attorney's Office, Nancy prosecuted a broad range of offenses including violent crimes (such as murder-for-hire, threats-to-kill, arson and kidnapping), large-scale drug trafficking, child exploitation, international contraband and human smuggling, fraud, computer crimes, and immigration. Her work on a landmark federal case earned her a nomination for a U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Prosecution.

As a federal prosecutor, Nancy received over a dozen commendations, certificates of appreciation and other service awards relative to her outstanding performance as a prosecutor, including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which acknowledged that her actions “were in the highest traditions of the Department of Justice,” and one from the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) which recognized her ”dedication and professionalism to the undercover investigation.”

For six years, Nancy was assigned to coordinate all prosecutions under the Violence Against Women Act. This included lecturing to law enforcement and to local, state and federal prosecuting agencies about guns and violence. She also led the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team, which prosecutes all federal child exploitation crimes.

After September 11, 2001, she began working on the Terrorist First-Response Task Force (the team responsible for responding to all domestic and international terrorist threats). After the 9/11 attacks, she worked the night shift hours as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) – liaising with all local, state and national law enforcement agencies – at the Central District of California Command Center.

A Personal Path To Justice

Nancy received her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania where she was a member of the University’s varsity women's lacrosse team. During her sophomore year at Penn, Nancy interned with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, and worked directly with the District Attorney (Edward G. Rendell – who later served as the Governor of Pennsylvania), researching and examining the overcrowding of Pennsylvania prisons. With an ignited interest in criminology, she took as many classes as possible on the subject.

After graduating with honors and a double degree in Classical Studies (Latin and Greek) and Italian, Nancy headed west to study law at UCLA. After her first year in law school, she worked as a summer clerk for the prestigious Los Angeles firm Hughes, Hubbard and Reed. During her second year, she worked as a clerk for the late honorable United States District Court Judge William Matthew Byrne, Jr., and the summer after her second year led to an internship at the office of Paul Hastings, Janofsky and Walker – one of the premier employment discrimination law firms in the nation. This resulted in Nancy’s permanent hire at the high-profile firm in the labor and employment law department.

As an Associate at Paul Hastings, Nancy represented employers in numerous aspects of employment law including class actions, wrongful discharge, discrimination, sexual harassment and labor-management litigation. Her clients included major financial institutions, retailers, technology companies, manufacturing companies and entertainment companies.

While working at Paul Hastings, Nancy either won or successfully negotiated deals on 100% of her federal discrimination cases. It was there that she developed a desire to take on complex cases in federal court, so she ended her four-year stint at Paul Hastings in exchange for behind-the-scenes prosecution experience. With that in mind, she interviewed with the
United States Attorney’s Office and was hired as an Assistant United States Attorney specializing in the prosecution of violent crimes.

Nancy Kardon